Another consideration is that you want to order something that the restaurant does well. They might have some things on the menu just to please people who are looking for some specific thing, vegetarians, etc. and these items might not be dishes they are very excited about.
Psychology of food menu design
21–30 of 59 posts
Re: Psychology of food menu design
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
My (and everyone's) local Chinese food restaurant has over fifty items in their menu. I'm very boring when it comes to food so I always get the same thing but I've always been curious about how many of the more esoteric (for a Chinese restaurant) items are sold and can be made on the spot - I've seen steaks and even Italian food in some menus.
Generally speaking, this is a sign of a bad Chinese restaurant practicing what I call "matrix menus": you've got one array of sauces (soy, oyster sauce, teriyaki, sweet and sour, satay, etc) and one of proteins (chicken, beef, shrimp, salmon, tofu, etc). The menu is product of multiplying these, even when the result is completely absurd from the POV of the original culinary tradition (say, satay shrimp or teriyaki to…
Chinese restaurants intended for Chinese people serve food that westerners don't like or find repulsive. "For Chinese people" doesn't mean better, it means better for people who're used to that and worse for people who aren't.
Re: Psychology of food menu design
#23Original article (2009) I think a bit of a better read.
Re: Psychology of food menu design
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember when this trend started years ago. All of a sudden every restaurant (particularly in the fast casual category) started adding farm names and artisanal this or hand-crafted that. It was all still the same old frozen bulk goods and the quality didn't change at all. The only thing that changed was they marked up the price. Then during the recession another worrying trend started--appetizer prices started clim…
I remember eating at Oola in SF once and wondering what "hand-cut kennebeck potatos" would look like. The answer: just regular old french fries.
The idea that "hand-made" is somehow better never made sense to me. I can understand it for a sculpture or painting where the feelings of the artist are supposed to show through, but for chopping food, picking fruit, sewing clothes, or assembling furniture? Either machines can't yet compete with humans so "hand-made" just means "normal" or the human is going to do more inconsistent and unhygienic job than a machine.
Re: Psychology of food menu design
#25Lol, this article is complete crap. No restaurant wants you to not order something. What they want is you, coming in the door, having a good time and ordering a bit of everything. Now if some restaurants have items they feel differentiates them from other, they want you to have some of that. But there was never an instance where, when I designed a menu (worked as a cook/chef in some pretty high end places, including…
Criticizing people's judgement based on their perceived qualifications or experience is offensive and often wrong. Just because you did something doesn't mean you understand it better than someone who didn't do it. It can actually hamper understanding by narrowing your viewpoint or causing you to overvalue your knowledge. I see this all the time among poorly educated people - "I've driven trucks for 20 years, I know how dynamic instability works."
Re: Psychology of food menu design
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
The really important line: Now, this isn’t some kind of a scam where the restaurant rips you off. The restaurant can’t make you order you something you don’t want. No kidding. That being said, maybe this all makes more sense in the context of "stuff that doesn't work, but consultants can still sell" rather than ever mattering to the diner.
You know, there are marketing studies contradicting that. It is possible to take people who don't want things, but present things to them as having other characteristics which they do want. The end effect is people buying things they really don't want. This was done way back in the 50's - and it is the essence of propaganda. Sometimes, being naive on a subject is dangerous. And trying to convince others about "common…
I didn't say anything about "common sense" though, even a little. I also didn't say anything about marketing or advertising not working, I'm just talking about this specific situation which is pretty laughable.
Re: Psychology of food menu design
#27I prefer places that have only a few items on the menu. I especially like restaurants which only have one menu item, and focus on making that one dish the best it can be. Too many menu options just causes anxiety and analysis paralysis. If you go to a fancy restaurant like the French Laundry, they only have a prix fixe menu with several courses (usually at least 5). You get what you get (although they usually have su…
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Re: Psychology of food menu design
#28I wish every menu would come with pictures for every item, if only because portion sizes are so unpredictable. Yelp has pictures sometimes, but they're crowdsourced, so it's usually only the popular items that have them.
Maybe the cost of getting good pictures and making longer menus is a factor. Or maybe it's just another part of the "psychology of food menu design."
Re: Psychology of food menu design
#29> According to an experiment conducted by Dr. Brian Wansink of Cornell University, sales increase almost thirty percent when menu items are accompanied by a well-written description. Diners also gave these items more favorable feedback and felt more satisfied after eating them. This is interesting to me. Yes, these are sales techniques and the primary benefactor is the restaurant because they make more profit. But if…
FYI, Brian Wansink's work has been found to suffer from numerous, substantial errors.[1] A recent investigation found ~150 errors in four papers on a single set of pizza experiments.[2] I would be skeptical of any result he publishes without first understanding the methodology.
[1] http://andrewgelman.com/2017/04/06/dear-cornell-university-p...
Re: Psychology of food menu design
#30I wish every menu would come with pictures for every item, if only because portion sizes are so unpredictable. Yelp has pictures sometimes, but they're crowdsourced, so it's usually only the popular items that have them. Maybe the cost of getting good pictures and making longer menus is a factor. Or maybe it's just another part of the "psychology of food menu design."
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